


My Kingdom for a Horse

by eternaleponine



Series: Clexathon 2016 [5]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Deleted Scenes, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 11:25:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8842870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternaleponine/pseuds/eternaleponine
Summary: After their narrow escape from death at the hands of a rampaging gorilla, Clarke isn't too sure about facing off with another Earth animal... no matter what Lexa says about how it will elevate her status.





	

Clarke looked up to find a very large man – not Gustus, Gustus was dead, but someone who looked a lot like him, but then most of the Grounder men looked alike to her still – standing in the opening of the tent where she was temporarily sheltered. 

"The Commander requests your presence," he said, voice muffled by the thing over his face, which at least wasn't any part of a skull, human or animal. 

She nodded and stood up to follow him. She was taken directly to the Commander's tent and motioned to go inside, but before she could, the flap lifted and the Commander – Lexa – stepped out. Clarke wasn't sure, but she thought she almost smiled. "Good," she said, then nodded to the man who had brought her, a silent dismissal that he acknowledged with his own nod before turning and walking away. "Come. There is something that I'd like to show you."

Clarke followed her, having come, if not to completely trust Lexa, at least to respect her, and she thought – hoped – that Lexa did the same. They'd been through hell in the last couple of days, running from _pauna_ , and it had bonded them to each other on some level. She'd saved Lexa's life, after all. But Lexa had saved her from Quint, so maybe they were just even. It was hard to keep score anymore, if there was a score to be kept. (There probably was, even if Lexa wasn't the one keeping it.)

"How is your arm?" she asked, falling in step next to her. It wasn't in a sling anymore, and probably should have been, but she very much doubted that Lexa was going to show even that much weakness to her people. 

"Better," Lexa said, shrugging and rolling it as if to prove her point, but Clarke didn't miss the slight wince, although most people probably would have. "Thank you."

_For what?_ , Clarke wanted to ask, but she didn't. And then she forgot all about it as they stepped into a clearing and she saw what (she assumed) Lexa had brought her to see. _Horses._

Of course she knew that the Grounders had horses. She'd seen Anya riding one, and other Grounders as well. But she'd never actually gotten close to one, and as Lexa climbed the fence that penned them in, then turned and looked expectantly at Clarke, it appeared that that was about to change. Lexa cocked her head as if to say, 'Well? Are you coming or not?' and Clarke scrambled over after her, not nearly as gracefully as the Commander had, but then she was confident that she had a lot less practice.

They made their way across the – what was the word? paddock? – and approached the shifting group of animals. The closer they got, the bigger they seemed (as an artist she understood perspective, but this was not something that she truly had any experience of perspective on), and the harder Clarke's heart pounded. Finally, when they were still several yards away, she stopped. 

Lexa had gone a few steps before she realized that Clarke had stopped following. She turned and looked at her. "Have you never—" she started, and then stopped herself, and Clarke couldn't swear to it, but she was pretty sure that Lexa actually blushed. 

And then she processed what Lexa had said, or stopped herself from saying, and she couldn't help grinning. "Were you about to ask me if I'd ever been near a horse before?" she asked. 

Lexa smile was small, her laugh quiet, but Clarke saw and heard both, and it did something to her, made something inside of her crack open a little. She wasn't sure that she actually wanted it to, that she wanted to have any good feelings about this girl who had ordered the death of the boy she'd loved – thought she'd loved, was it really possible to love someone that quickly? – but at least let her act of mercy (was it really?) be enough when her people would have demanded more. 

"Clarke," Lexa said, drawing her back to the present. "They will not hurt you," she said. "Come." She held out a hand to Clarke, and although she didn't reach out to take it, she did step closer, and closer still, approaching this huge animal that seemed placid enough, but if it suddenly decide to bolt, could easily trample her.

After a few hesitating seconds, Lexa seemed to lose patience. She reached out and took Clarke's hand, drawing her around to the side so that she was no longer facing off with the beast, and placed it on the horse's neck. She murmured something in Trigedasleng that of course Clarke didn't understand, but somehow the horse seemed to, and made a sound in response.

"There," Lexa said, close enough that Clarke could feel the warmth radiating from her body. "See?"

"Yes," Clarke said. She stroked the horse's smooth coat, then reached out with her other hand to touch the long hard ridge of its nose (or whatever you called it on a horse), and then stumbled back into Lexa when the horse tossed its head as if to shake her off.

Lexa caught her, laughing, and set her back on her feet. "Sometimes they do that," she said. "They are animals used to being hunted. It can make them skittish." 

"I'm not going to hurt it," Clarke said. 

"I know that," Lexa said, "and you know that, but she doesn't know that." She reached past Clarke to rub between the horse's eyes. "Do you?" she asked it, and then said something else that Clarke didn't understand, and wished she did, those liquid syllables flowing from Lexa's lips... "Do you like her?"

"Yes," Clarke said. "She's beautiful."

"She is called Soncha," Lexa said. "You will ride her back to your people."

Clarke turned and looked at Lexa, frowning. "I don't—I can't accept that," she said. 

Lexa raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.

"I can walk," she said. 

"No," Lexa said. "You will ride. It is important that my people understand... and that _your_ people understand... that we are allies now. You are under my protection. This... elevates you in their eyes."

"Literally," Clarke muttered, trying to imagine what it would be like to actually sit on top of this animal, to look down on everything below from that height. 

Lexa's lips quirked. "Yes, but that is not what I meant, Clarke."

_Clarke._ There was something in the way that Lexa said her name... something that made it sound different, even to her own ears when she'd heard it probably a million times before. 

"It is important," Lexa repeated.

"I don't know how to ride," Clarke said.

"I know," Lexa said. "Why do you think we're here?" She drew the horse – Soncha – away from the others and over to one of the fences, where a woman stood waiting. She nodded at whatever Lexa said, and vaulted into the paddock to begin putting a saddle and furs over the horse's back. It only took a few minutes, and Clarke wished that it would take a little longer, because she knew what was going to happen next.

"You may need to climb up the fence a little," Lexa said. "Your foot goes here." She touched a metal loop with a flat bottom – the stirrup, Clarke remembered from something that she'd read. She did as she was told, but stopped when Lexa started laughing.

"What?" she demanded. 

"Your other foot," Lexa said. "Unless you want to ride backward."

"You didn't say which foot," Clarke muttered, and then took a minute to try to figure out how the hell she was supposed to get her left foot into the stirrup from the left side of the horse without toppling everything. Not that a horse looked to be easily toppled, but how secure was the saddle, really?

"As soon as you've got your foot in," Lexa said, "you'll swing your right leg over."

_Says you._

Clarke tried, but the horse took a sideways step as soon as she tried to put her weight into it, and she found herself clinging to the fence with her arms while her lower body went in the opposite direction. 

Lexa tugged the reins and the other woman went around to nudge Soncha's rear end back in the right direction. She stayed there so that the horse couldn't try that trick again, and this time Lexa held the stirrup as Clarke tried again to get her foot in.

"You need to hold on to the horse, not the fence," Lexa said. "Otherwise you're completely off balance."

Clarke tried a third time, felt Lexa's hand gripping her calf as she finally managed – inelegantly – to get her right leg over the horse and sit up, settling her weight what she hoped was evenly. The ground seemed very far away, but Lexa was grinning up at her. "There you go!" she said. 

Clarke couldn't help smiling back. Lexa's hand dropped away from her leg, and then she was being handed the reins. "What?"

"Just nudge her with your heels," Lexa said. "Gently." 

It took a couple of tries, but finally Soncha took a step forward, and then another. She rocked with the motion of the horse's gait, and Lexa called out instructions to her on how to make the horse turn, and then finally to stop. 

"You shouldn't have to do more than walk," Lexa said. 

"What do you mean, shouldn't?" Clarke asked.

Lexa frowned. "As I said, horses are used to being prey, and they can get skittish."

"You mean she could just start running at any time."

She shrugged. "It's not impossible."

"What do I do then?"

"Hold on," Lexa said. "Try to rein her in when you can. But mostly just hold on."

"Oh, _that's_ reassuring," Clarke said dryly. 

"Better than falling off," Lexa pointed out. "Also, don't panic."

"If my horse decides to just take off, don't panic." It wasn't a question.

"She can sense your energy," Lexa said. "If you panic, you will only make her think that her fear is justified."

"Right." She looked down at Lexa. "How do I get down?"

"The same way you got up," Lexa said, "but in reverse."

"You make it sound simple," Clarke said.

"It is," Lexa told her. She reached out to steady the stirrup again, and somehow Clarke managed to get her right leg up and over again, and then swing down, only hopping a few times before Lexa tugged the stirrup so she could free her left foot. 

She felt Lexa's hand on her elbow, steadying her as Soncha was led away. "You'll have some of my people to help you," she said. "Don't worry."

"I'm not worried," Clarke lied. 

"Good." Lexa let her hand fall away. "You will leave in a few hours, as soon as everything is prepared."

"And you?" Clarke asked.

"I have other business I must attend to," Lexa said. "But I will see you soon."

Clarke nodded.

"You did well, Clarke," Lexa said. "Better than I expected." From her tone, and the brightness in her eyes, Clarke thought she was probably teasing. Then the slight smile fell away. "My people will be with you, but take care of yourself," she said. 

"You too," Clarke told her. Lexa turned as if to walk away, and Clarke reached out, touched her arm, and when she turned, offered her hand. "May we meet again," she said.

Lexa did not take her hand, only cocked her head in question. 

"It's what my people say," Clarke explained, "on parting. It's part of the Traveler's Blessing."

"Walk with me," Lexa said. This time instead of climbing the fence, they went through a gate, and Clarke wondered if it had been a test earlier to see what she was willing to do to follow the Commander, or if Lexa had simply decided that going over the fence was easier, because it was the most direct route. "What is the Traveler's Blessing?"

"In peace, may you leave this shore. In love, may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey to the ground. May we meet again," Clarke recited. 

"You are on the ground now," Lexa pointed out.

"We are," Clarke said. "Mostly the whole thing was only used when people died," she admitted. "There wasn't a lot of traveling one could do on the Ark otherwise."

Lexa nodded. "We are not dying here," she said. 

"No," Clarke said, wondering if Lexa's words were an intentional echo of her own, when Lexa had tried to reassure her that death was not the end. "Still... be safe."

"And you, Clarke." She seemed to hesitate a moment, but finally turned and walked away, leaving Clarke to find her own way back.

**Author's Note:**

> An anonymous prompter on Tumblr asked for Lexa giving Clarke a horseback riding lesson. Hope you see this and enjoy!


End file.
